TDCJ Field Ministers help to usher in Dramatic “Culture Change” at the Eastham Unit! Written by: Keith “Malik” Washington

Peace and Blessings Sisters and Brothers! It is your brother in Struggle, your solider for Change, Comrade Malik reporting in from the Texas Gulag. April is here and with the new month we have Easter, Spring time, Reflections on the Past, and New Beginnings! Last year around this time, prisoners at Eastham were falling out in droves suffering from “Toochie Attacks”. Toochie or Tune is the street name or rather prison name for K-@ also known as synthetic marijuana. Last year, this Unit was flooded with the drug and it created a horrible atmosphere of chaos and violence. Prisoners were assaulting each other and Staff. This created a hostile work environment and some officers lost their cool also. Eastham was in need of a spiritual revival.

In Ad-Seg last year I was fighting for more humane conditions of confinement. We had a Roach and Rodent infestation problem and our opportunities for outside recreation were limited to 2 or maybe 3 times a week. I am glad to report that a lot has changed for the better here at Eastham Uni and I attribute it to a few things. First, in Ad-Seg we have a new Warden. Kenneth Hutto has a much different “management style” than the previous warden. He is strict but fair and he does not tolerate an un-sanitary or un-healthy environment. He seems to realize that human beings who live in small cells 23 to 2 hours a day, 365 days out of a year need adequate opportunities for outside recreation. We’ve been getting 5 days a week! The weather is starting to get nice so I will be going out regularly in order to shed these extra pounds I’ve picked up during winter.

One of the most welcome additions to Eastham are prisoners who attended and graduated from TDCJ’s Theological Seminary School which is at the Darrington Unit located in Rosharon, Texas. The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary School (SWBTS) at Darrington is privately funded. After completing 125 accredited hours in approximately four and a half years students received a Bachelor or Science Degree in Biological Studies and officially become “Field Ministers”. Senator John Whitmire has been one of the biggest supporters and advocates for these “Field Ministers”. In Theory they are supposed to go out into the General Population and Ad-Seg Units and act as an Extension of the TDCJ Chaplaincy Department. I actually had the pleasure of meeting and becoming close friends with a couple of these college trained “Field Ministers” and I can tell you that these men are incredible Ambassadors for Positive Change! Stanley Rucker and Melvin Aviva are just two of the “Field Ministers” I’ve grown to know and work with here at Eastham.

When brother Stanley discovered that a lot of prisoners in Ad-Seg were without Whirl-wind fans, he took the initiative to create a list and gave it to the Senior Warden here Billy Lewis. Warden Lewis contacted the Property Officer here and on June 21, 2017 Ad-Seg prisoners got fans!! Brother Melvin and Brother Stanley also helped me address some sanitation issues we were having here in Ad-Seg. In General Population Melvin, Stanley and the other “Field Ministers” began to work on the HEARTS and MINDS of prisoners who were in the midst of addiction to K-2!! Medium Custody prisoners were some of the most frequent victims of the so called “Toochie Attacks” so that is where Brother Stanley and Brother Melvin went to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the prisoners who needed it the most!! And I am a MUSLIM and I LOVE AND RESPECT THESE SOLIDERS FOR CHRIST BECAUSE THEY HAVE INTEGRITY AND HONOR!! And I was not the only one who noticed! During Hurricane Harvey last September Eastham hosted hundreds of prisoners from the C.T. Terrell Unit. They were housed in the Gym and in the Chapel area. It was our “Field Ministers” who acted as servants and helpers to these prisoners/evacuees many who were elderly, disabled, and infirm. In essence, our “Field Ministers” acted as Home Health Aids providing care and support for our guests! So in theory, Senator Whitmire hoped that the “Field Ministers” could help deliver the Message of Christ but in PRACTICE these “Field Ministers” have done that and so much more!!

A “spirit” of peace and tranquility has descended upon the Eastham Unit. There is co-operation between high ranking staff and the “Field Ministers”. What I mean is that these “Field Ministers” have earned the respect of the Administration and thus they have been granted a lot of latitude to move about and interact with all security levels. The “Field Ministers” are PROBLEM SOLVERS ACTUALLY ACTING AS A LIASON BETWEEN PRISONERS AND THE ADMINISTRATION. I am so supportive of these men because they are a manifestation of qualitative and quantitative change in a system which has been stagnated in the “OLD WAYS” for years! On top of that, I can teach more people how to fight for their rights when they aren’t angry and “high” on K-2!! More later Comrades!! This is Comrade Malik signing off until next time!! All Power to the People!!!

Keith ‘Malik’ Washington is a co-founder and chief spokespersyn for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement, a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and he is the Deputy Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter). Malik has been instrumental in calling for the abolition of legalized slavery in Amerika and is very active in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign. You can view his work at comrademalik.com or you can write him directly at:

Comrade Malik Speaks: Come Out to Support California Prison Focus at their Community Block Party in Oakland, CA on MARCH 23rd, 2018!!!

Peace and Blessings Sisters and Brothers!!! I have some wonderful news to share with you and I hope you are listening. The Movement which seeks to End Prison Slavery and Amend the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is growing exponentially. One of the reasons for that growth is the work and dedication of a “New Generation” of Activists calling themselves the New Abolition Movement. Nube Brown is one of those “New Abolitionists” and for the past year she has been volunteering with California Prison Focus. California Prison Focus is a grass-roots organizations working to END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AND OTHER FORMS OF TORTURE AND ABUSE IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS.

On MARCH 23, 2018 California Prison Focus will hold a BLOCK PARTY in front of their office in Oakland, CA. This event is co-organized and sponsored AMEND THE 13th which is a dynamic and innovative organization led by a California Prisoner named HeshimaDenham. As a Prison Abolitionist I can’t tell you how very important it is to come out and support CPF and to learn more about the work of Amend the 13th. Without a doubt, it is: communities of color which only sense that we begging to actively support the individuals and groups who continue to fight on behalf of our Loved Ones trapped inside these modern day Slave Kamps and Gulags operated by the Californial Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). There is definitely a sharp increase in the participation of women of color in this Abolitionist Movement. Nube Brown is one of the “rising starts’ Of this Movement as well as Krystal Roundtree of IAMWE and KilaikaShakur of George Jackson University.

I recently heard from our sister in struggle Nube Brown and here is what she had to say about the up-coming Block Party in Oakland: “We are organizing a Community Summit/Street Fair in Oakland on the 23 of March. We are trying to form a United Front of organizations and community members who are committed to ALL aspects of self determination, self rule, and advocacy and most importantly community cooperation.” Sisters and Brothers I strongly encourage you to come on imperative the WE as a People support those who support us and tell them Comrade Malik sent you!! ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Keith ‘Malik’ Washington is a Human Rights Activist, Environmentalist, Jailhouse Lawyer, and Freedom Fighter currently incarcerated in Texas. (Eastham Unit Ad-Seg located in Lovelady, Texas)
In 2015, Malik was housed at the Pack I Unit, a prison located in Navasota, Texas and the center of a current legal battle which seeks to force the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to install air conditioning at the facility.

While housed at Pack I in June thru September 2015, Mr. Washington (known to his friends as ‘Malik’) discovered the presence of high levels of ARSENIC in the water supply. Malik, who has become an accomplished journalist, began to expose the toxic water.

Malik also witnessed the mistreatment and abuse of elderly and infirm prisoners who were housed at Pack I. The abusers being TDCJ employees. Malik who is also an orthodox sunni muslim witnessed and was personally subjected to horrible acts of religious discrimination.

With the help of a dedicated network of Free-World Activists, Scholars, and Media Correspondents Malik was able to File Grievances while his supporters filed Formal Public Complaints with the TDCJ Ombudsman Office. (All of these actions are well documented.)
In a blatant act of retaliation for engaging in what the US Supreme Court has described as ‘Protected Conduct’, Malik was Transferred to a Maximum Security Prison with a Gang Problem. The Unit also has the distinction of being the largest prison in the Texas System. It is the HH Coffield Unit located in Tennessee Colony, Texas.

Upon his arrival on the unit in September 2015 Malik was informed by leading members of the Prison Muslim Community at Coffield that TDCJ Employee Chaplain Akbar Shabazz had phone the unit and ORDERED THEM not to allow Malik to speak at any Muslim Services and that Malik was not to be allowed to hold any position in the Muslim Community. It is noteworthy to mention that Malik has been the Muezzin on many Units. The Muezzin is the person who makes the Call to Prayer or Adhan before Salat (prayer). Not only did this TDCJ employee infringe upon Malik’s Religious Practice, he went further by telling the Muslim Inmate Leaders that Malik was an Islamic Extremist and a ‘Troublemaker’ who should be watched very closely. In essence this slanderous activity placed Malik in harm’s way.

This was only the beginning of a long history of reprisals against Malik for exercising his Free Speech Rights or attempting to Access the Courts or teach others to do so.

Many Prison Abolitionists know that on September 8th 2016, one day before the largest Prison Work Strike in history, Malik was placed in solitary confinement and charged with a Riot that never materialized. Malik still languises in Ad-Seg locked in a small cage 23 to 24 hours a day!

Recently in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division: Malik has filed a Civil complaint (Lawsuit) against TDCJ – CID Director Lorie Davis as well as a long list of TDCJ employees which includes Chaplain Akbar Shabazz. In the Lawsuit Malik alleges that TDCJ employees engaged in an elaborate conspiracy to violate his Civil Rights, infringe upon his Religious Practice and Retaliate against him for filing grievances and Federal Lawsuits. The lawsuit also addresses the Toxic Water issues at Eastham:

The Case is being supervised by Chief US District Judge Ron Clark and has been assigned to US Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell. Judge Mitchell will be handling all hearings of Pre-Trial matters and she will be submitting all recommendations for the disposition of Malik’s petition to US District Judge Clark.

At this time, Malik and his Support Network is sending out a plea for Legal Representation. We would like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Constitutional Rights, as well as the Texas Civil Rights Project to review Malik’s allegations against TDCJ as we have seen a pattern of practice in which TDCJ conspires to retaliate against all prisoners who engage in ‘protected conduct’ and attempt to Access the Courts.

Malik is a Jailhouse Lawyer who is well versed in Constitutional Law, but he is no match for the State of Texas Attorney General Office which has employed unscrupulous tactics in the past in order to sabotage Malik’s litigation efforts.

We are reaching out to Civil Rights Lawyers everywhere who will be willing to come to Texas and aid our brother in Struggle.

Keith ‘Malik’ Washington is a humyn rights activist currently incarcerated in Texas. He is a co-founder and chief spokespersyn for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement. Malik is a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) and he is the Deputy Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter). Malik has been instrumental in calling for the abolition of legalized slavery in Amerika and is very active in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign. You can view his work at comrademalik.com or write him directly at:

Juneteenth Call to Action- Written by: Keith “Malik” Washington

Subject: Request for Mutual Aid in Raising the Public’s AWARENESS in regard to the MOVEMENT which seeks to ABOLISH PRISON SLAVERY and Amend the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution

From: Keith ‘Malik’ Washington

Peace & Blessings Sisters and Brothers in the struggle!

My name is Keith ‘Malik’ Washington and I am a human rights and civil rights activist who is currently incarcerated in the state of TEXAS. Juneteenth is an abolitionist Holiday in which WE celebrate and reflect about the moment in history when Slaves in Texas finally got word that the Civil War had ended.

For two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, ROGUE slave owners continued to exploit Black People by forcing slavery upon our Ancestors. This year during your regular Juneeenth celebrations and fellowship with loved ones and members of your Community–OUR COMMUNITY–I am requesting you consider doing something that will help raise the Public’s Awareness in regards to The Struggle.

Sisters and Brothers, there is a Movement which seeks to Abolish ‘legalized’ Slavery in Amerika. A Movement which is fighting hard to Amend the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution which has allowed ‘slave like’ conditions to continue under the guise of Mass Incarceration and forced Involuntary Servitude.

We would like your help in raising the public’s awareness as it relates to Ending Prison Slavery inside the State of Texas and Beyond!

I’d like to encourage all of you to arrange viewings of Director Ava Duvernay’s trailblazing film “13th” on JUNETEENTH!!

Texas has the largest state prison system in the United States. There are disproportionate amounts of Black and Brown Human Beings who are trapped inside these modern day Slave Kamps and Gulags. We are being degraded, dehumanized, mistreated, and abused and what is shocking is your Tax Dollars are Funding these institution!!!

Sisters and Brothers, there can be No Meaningful Change Without YOU!

Let’s create positive conversations and dialogues about this topic. I and hundreds of like minded activists across the Nation would certainly appreciate your help. God Bless you All!

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win, All Power to the People!

Keith ‘Malik’ Washington is a co-founder and chief spokespersyn for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement, a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and he is the Deputy Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter). Malik has been instrumental in calling for the abolition of legalized slavery in Amerika and is very active in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign. Malik has begun to work closely with Heshima Denham who is the Chief Spokespersyn and Chairman of Amend the 13th and is also partnering with Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun (Formerly known as Melvin Ray) a founding member of the Free Alabama Movement. You can view Malik’s work at comrademalik.com or you are encouraged to write him directly at:

The Struggle for Prison Abolition Continues: Battleground UK and Amerika!

“To rise beyond the limits of protest, we must chart out our political intentions, organizational goals, and a larger vision about our direction. First, and foremost, militant self-defense, and the capacity for larger militant actions must be addressed at the inception of the organizing process. While we must defend people from capitivity as well as our political centers, we must also be astute enough to realize that we cannot be on the defense indefinitely. The state is in a weaker position today than it has been in decades, and since the moment we go into action is up to us, the government invariably remains in a defensive position. WE CAN ACT WHEN WE CHOOSE, AND WE SHOULD ACT WISELY.” – Burn Down the American Plantation, by the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement

Revolutionary Greetings, Comrades!

We opened here with some powerful words. I suggest you read the opening statement again and fully understand and grasp the meaning of the message we are trying to convey to you.

In Florida we have witnessed with our own eyes the lengths the state will go to in order to sabotage the effectiveness of our pre-planned direct actions. Our actions seek to shed a discerning spotlight on the corrupt practices of the Department of Corrections. However, pre-emptive lockdowns have been the go-to tactic of numerous prison agencies across the United States.

Like President Trump, they (the corrupt prison agencies) don’t want to be exposed, they want to continue on, in a business as usual manner. It is our duty to disrupt and destroy these slave kamps and gulags.

A) forced slave labor – FDOC prisoners are forced to work without pay.

B) grossly overpriced commissary and package system – Florida is extorting the poorest cross-section of society!

C) murdering and abusing prisoners with impunity and then covering it up!

Florida is sanctioning and condoning the outright murder of prisoners in their care. A horrific case in point is the case of Darren Rainey2.

On June 23rd, 2012, Darren Rainey was locked in a scaldingly hot shower by corrections officers who had rigged the shower so they could punish prisoners who “acted out”. These were mentally ill prisoners housed at the Dade Correctional Institution.

In late January, 2018, the State of Florida announced that it would award $4.5 million to Darren Rainey’s family. Nevertheless, Miami-Dade State Attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, refused to prosecute former corrections officers Ronald Clarke and Cornelius Thompson. So in essence, these pieces of trash have been allowed to get away with murder!

One of our key organizational goals in Florida should be to force the resignation of State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle! Fire her now! There is no way in hell that the State approves an award of $4.5 million and no-one is held accountable for the loss of life!

What kind of message do you think is being sent to the pigs? “We protect our own”, that is the message. I want to explore this phrase, “we protect our own”, more thoroughly, but before I delve deeper, allow me to remind all of you that our struggle for prison abolition is a protracted struggle and the state targets the most advanced political elements.

Florida is attempting to place an inciting to riot charge on Comrade Rashid, but this smacks of an elaborate plan to retaliate against Rashid for exercising the same protected free-speech rights as reports and journalists at the Miami Herald!

Comrade Kevin “Rashid” Johnson exposed the pattern of abuse and murder which regularly takes place at the Bill Clements Unit. In 2017, prison officials conspired with members of the Texas Attorney General’s office to get some “payback” for Rashid’s courageous journalism.

The point I want to make is this: there is a systematic and pervasive problem in US prisons where members of State Attorney General officers collude and conspire with members of their various prison agencies to cover-up the abuse and murder of prisoners and shield murderous prison employees from being held accountable for their actions.

Furthermore, we are also seeing a pattern in which prisoners who identify as humyn rights activists and jail house lawyers are literally being marked for death and systematically targeted for co-ordinated retaliatory actions.

Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton is complicit in these collusive acts and the FBI and Department of Justice seem to be 100% on board with the “We Protect Our Own” strategy.

Focusing in on Our Demands

Comrades, in each state and country there are prisoners and victims of modern-day slavery perpetrated by agents of the state! As a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), I am keenly aware of the problems that prisoners everywhere face. I would like to highlight some of the specific issues our imprisoned comrades face with the hope of promoting greater unity and understanding among our free-world supporters and imprisoned allies – so we can address these issues.

United Kingdom

Comrades, please let me be perfectly clear when I say that the pigs in London are just as corrupt as the pigs in Amerika – period.

Chairman Mao Tze Tung said “no investigation, no right to speak”. With that in mind, I’ll let all of you know I’ve done my research on the pigs in the UK4:

Before I move on, I am officially inviting prisoners in the UK to join the Incarcerated Workers’ Organizing Committee, and as Deputy Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter), I am sending out a special invitation to UK prisoners to join the Black Panthers now!

Be advised that under the banner of the NABPP (PC), we have mass organizations for White Panthers, as well as Asian Panthers, and under the auspices of the United Panther movement I invite all street tribe members in UK prisons to consider joining the movement which seeks to abolish prison slavery.

To join the IWOC, contact:

UK: IWW/IWOC, PO Box 7593, Glasgow, G42 2EX

USA: IWW/IWOC, PO Box 414304, Kansas City, MO, 64141-4304

To join the NABPP (PC), contact:

Comrade Malik, c/o Twitch, PO Box 7907, Austin, Texas, 78713, USA

Amerikkka – the slave state!

Comrades, without a doubt there are common issues which plague every prison population in the world, but now I will list some specific issues and challenges we face here in Amerika!

Not only is this an infringement on their 1st Amendment rights, it infringes on their ability to litigate and receive information of any kind! The agency’s main goal is to isolate and silence the voices of all Indiana prisoners.

I am in full support of Bennu’s campaign, and this is one of the many tactics and strategies employed by the IWOC to end prison slavery in Amerika.

I would like to add that many of the high-ranking prison administrators and prison employees who abuse and oppress us are black. Yes, it’s true! So when you think it’s all about “whitey” keeping us down, think again – in ole Alabama there are many Uncle Toms and jeffin-ass House Negroes hurting the people. Remember that.

This would be paired with another initiative referred to as Strategic Release.

The bottomline is this: prisoners in California, especially New Afrikan prisoners, are actually creating realistic avenues for freedom which can be utilized by all.

Kijana Tashiri Askari is the chair of the WLNMP, and he is committed to providing quality education and life skills to a new generation of aspiring freedom fighters and community leaders. Something wonderful is happening inside and outside of California prisons.

It is important for all imprisoned activists and freedom fighters to know that, without a dedicated cadre of outside supporters like Nube Brown, Kim Pollak, Mary Ratcliff, Dr Willie Ratcliff, Julie Sands, Noelle Hanrahan, Carole Seligman, Justin Adkins, Victor Wallis, Jamani Montague, and last but not least Brianna of the IWOC, nobody in the free world would hear our voices!

Before I end this piece, I want to give a clenched fist salute to Calvin Burnap and Professor Dean Spade in Seattle, Washington.

Texas

In Texas, we face numerous problems, and dedicated members of the IWOC have helped us assemble a list of demands we will be requesting our family and friends to present to Texas legislators this year.

On Juneteenth (June 19th, 2018), I am calling for all Texas prisoners and all prisoners throughout the US, and our free-world supporters, to take time to meditate and reflect on past struggles for the abolition of slavery, as well as preparing for the struggle we have ahead of us. The most important thing I am requesting prisoners in Texas to do is contact their family and friends.

We want to provide Texas prisoners with the email addresses and fax numbers of key Texas legislators so prisoners can urge their family and friends to contact them and provide them with our core demands, which are:

1 The Right to Habeas Counsel – Every indigent prisoner in Texas should be appointed Habeas Counsel when filing their 11.07 Habeas Corpus.

2 End the “Quorum of One” practice for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

3 Meaningful Good Time/Work Time and Presumptive Parole – When Good Time, Work Time and Flat Time equal 100% of their sentence, a Texas prisoner should be presumed to automatically make parole or discharge!

4 Payment/Compensation for Forced Labor: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms” – Article 4, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

5 End the $100 Medical Co-Pay

6 TDCJ Oversight Committee – This is a bill that has been up for a vote in the past two Texas legislative sessions. It will require all grievances to be processed and investigated by an independent outside organization. Prisoners in Texas are dying and being murdered and abused by staff at an alarming rate and we need independent oversight of this corrupt agency right now!14

I came across an article by Al Williams entitled “What We Learnt by Coordinating a Month of Rolling Resistance Against Cuadrilla at Preston New Road.” I came away with some excellent tactics and strategies which we can adopt for our abolition movement.

Engaging other activist collectives helps form an inclusive, diverse alliance.

Diversity of tactics is key when deploying mutiple direct actions against police forces (or prisoncrats) who know we are coming! (Juneteenth, y’all!)

Alternative media is an important lever when the national news in the UK or US isn’t shining a light on prison slavery or abuse of prisoners.

Corruption, collusion and violence are now endemic throughout the world!

Comrades, I wrote this essay with the intent of promoting international solidarity as we approach Juneteenth. Let’s plan to do something big.

Dare to struggle, dare to win. All power to the people.

Your Brother and Comrade, Malik

Keith “Malik” Washington is a co-founder and chief spokesperson for the End Prison Slavery in Texas Movement, a proud member of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and Deputy Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter. Malik has been instrumental in calling for the abolition of legalized slavery in Amerika and is very active in the Fight Toxic Prisons campaign. You can view his work at comrademalik.com or you can write him directly at Keith “Comrade Malik” Washington, 1487958, Eastham Unit, 2665 Prison Rd. 1, Lovelady, Texas 75851.